End blame game: FWA

Business executives notice that a greater “us and them" culture exists in Australia than in the United Kingdom, according to a leading workplace lawyer and adjudicator.

Fair Work Australia deputy president
Graeme Watson
has argued the national workplace debate concentrates too much on differences rather than common ground.

On Friday, Mr Watson called for employers and unions to stop the “blame game" and consider broader ways of boosting employee engagement through programs such as the UK’s Macleod report.

“You can waste a lot of time and effort debating about the technicalities of the legislation," Mr Watson said. He was speaking at the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s annual Workforce Conference in Melbourne.

Earlier speakers underlined sharp differences between employers and unions over the national workplace laws.

Fair Work Australia and other institutions such as the Fair Work Ombudsman and the Fair Work Building and Construction inspectorate plan to use informal talks rather than legal judgments.

Mr Watson warned that organisations pushing in “different directions" could create “competing pressures on workplace dynamics" which would lessen the benefits.

Australian Industry Group chief executive
Innes Willox
said unions had benefited from the Fair Work Act in more than 120 ways, but little had been done for business.